Red Socks
by Ken Rowat
Today I want to talk about a pair of red socks. A friend of ours was telling us about her cousin who had turned his back on the things of God. It appears that when he was young, the cousin had been very active in the church. He had been involved in the youth group in the church, and also enjoyed being part of the outreach programmes.
This young man liked to wear a pair of red socks wherever he went. One day a senior person in the church approached him and told him that he should not wear bright red socks when he was involved in church activities.
The cousin exploded with anger and from that day on he turned his back on God and all involvement in church activities. He never attended church again and died a lonely and bitter person. Jesus warned in the scripture for today that offences will come to confront us. He asks us to make the right choices when we face these situations. It may only be a small thing, or it may be a serious situation that faces us. Either way, the Lord is asking us to not allow ourselves to be offended.
There are many families where offence has taken root and the resultant bitterness grows within, and walls of separation separate us from someone for days and even years of our lives. In Proverbs 4:23 we are instructed to guard, or keep a watch over, our hearts because our whole being can be defiled by holding on to something that has offended us. How sad that a pair of red socks caused a man to turn his back on God!
Our lives can be changed forever if we do not heed this warning. You and I need to do a regular clean up of our hearts and lay all pain and injustice at the Cross, as we choose to forgive the perpetrator.
Ask God to show you where you might have been offended and chose to keep it in your heart. It may have happened long ago, or just yesterday. Either way, if we don’t face the problem God’s way, we could lose out on a life of peace and tranquility.
Prayer: Lord, You know how often we are hurt by others. We ask You to show us where we have allowed ourselves to be offended. Help us to do things Your way and to forgive the person, as we lay our pain and frustrations at the foot of the Cross. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Ken Rowat Ken has been married to Joy for 46 years and they have 4 married children, 11 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. In 2010 they attended the NETS training at Pierrepont, then were at Ellel Shere House for further training. Ken and Joy were involved with the running of Telefriend, a Christian counselling ministry in Durban, South Africa for 19 years. They have both been Directors of Ellel KZN since 2013.
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